Saturday, April 26, 2014

National Iraqi News Agency reports a Baiji polling station was blown up killing three police members with two more injured. Baiji is in Salah ad Din Province. This happened after NINA reported:Baghdad Operations Command declared that military units and security
forces received the polling stations in Baghdad and other Iraqi
provinces since today Saturday 26, April, to ensure the security and
safety of these stations in preparation for a special vote on next
Monday, then the public vote on next Wednesday.The spokesman of
BOC, Brigadier General Saad Maan told the National Iraqi News Agency /
NINA / "The leadership has not taken, so far, a decision to impose a
curfew on the public and private voting ," adding that "the number of
stations of special voting in Iraq are 532 , and the public are 8075
stations ."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki said on Saturday
that his coalition aims to form a " majority" government after the
upcoming parliamentary elections so as to make a "change" to the
crisis-ridden country."Together we can reform the political process because in such process
we can't move. We have to make a change on the bases of the
constitution to meet the expectation of our people," al-Maliki said at
an election rally of his State of Law Coalition in Baghdad.

Sunday's Zaman notes, "Although the Shiite-dominated State of Law Coalition (SLC) led by Maliki
-- who is seeking a third consecutive term in office -- is widely seen
as the front-runner, experts believe the outcome of the elections may
yield a surprising result as there are criticisms of Maliki's
leadership. Iraq's election not only offers real competition, but there is also uncertainty about the outcome."

Another interesting religious group in Baghdad is that of
Christian politicians – there are ten Christian political groups in
Baghdad competing for the one quota seat allocated to them. These
parties are competing for the votes of those Iraqi Christians left in
Baghdad. Much of the country’s Christian minority has been displaced
over the past few years – some say as many as 1 million have left – and
some of the Iraqi Christian candidates actually travelled overseas to
woo potential voters who emigrated.

In addition to the political blocs founded around sectarian and religious allegiances, there are also a number of secular parties
competing for Baghdadi votes. A notable new group is the Civil
Democratic Alliance, formed as an umbrella organisation for a number of
smaller, secular parties and civil society groups. Prominent members
include the Iraqi Communist Party and socialist groups and they seem to
be relying on the waning popularity of Islamic parties to win votes.

Another of these groups is headed by former Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi, who is distinguishing his party, Wataniya, from others by
attempting to exclude almost all religious overtones; his candidates
consist of civil society activists, women’s rights campaigners and
personalities from Iraq’s secular society. It seems that Allawi wants to
send a loud and clear message that he remains a liberal personality who
believes in the separation of church and state.

While Habib looked at Baghdad, Rudaw examines the vote in Kirkuk:The
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PUK are the two major parties
in Kirkuk. But despite running on a joint list in most previous Iraqi
elections, they decided to run separately in the April 30 polls due to
political disagreements.Both parties are now vying for Kirkuk’s more than 841,000 eligible voters.“Unfortunately we could not create one united Kurdish list of
candidates,” says Mamand. “However, we are not going to base our
expectations on the results of the 2010 elections and we do expect to
win more seats this time around.”Meanwhile representatives of smaller parties in Kirkuk think
that the KDP-PUK split aside, the two parties are likely to lose many
voters due to their poor political record in the multiethnic province.

Duraid Salman and Tareq Ammar (Alsumaria) report voters turned out in Kirkuk today to protest outside the Electoral Commission Office because voters names are not showing up on the voter rolls and these voters are not receiving the new electronic voting card which is required to vote in the election. KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani is with the KDP. Below is a photo of him and his wife Nabila Barzani voting in Erbil last September in the KRG provincial elections.

Alsumaria reports that the KRG prime minister gave a speech today in which he called on people in the KRG to vote and noted that Nouri's Baghdad based government is attempting to impose cuts on the KRG and the only way to stop that is to vote.

AP offers an overview/analysis of the election here and they break down the some of the major parties here.

Meanwhile, Nouri's War Crimes continued today as residential neighborhoods in Falluja continued to be bombed by the Iraqi military. Alsumaria reports 1 civilian was killed and three more injured by the bombings. Through Friday, Iraq Body Count counts 826 violent deaths so far this month.

In other violence, All Iraq News reports, "A two-headed boy who was born on Friday passed away in less than 24 hours in Nasiriya city in Dhi-Qar province." How is that violence? The US government's decision to allow White Phosphorus and Depleted Uranium in Iraq has long lasting consequences. Some Iraqis have seen it repeatedly already -- as have some US couples where one or both are veterans of the Iraq War.

This is an important development and you'll note, like so much regarding Iraq, it's being ignored.

That's especially distressing with regards to so-called 'alternative' media -- The Progressive, The Nation, etc. And that's true of anything to do with Iraq. We noted how left outlets were avoiding Iraq on Wednesday, "That's not about the campaign per se but in the US the left -- or the
hustler left -- doesn't give a damn about Iraq. I'm left, I care about
Iraq, but supposedly The Progressive, The Nation, blah blah blah are
left and they can't be bothered with Iraq. "

In office, Tony Blair argued in favour of
pre-emptive military action against threats to the West. Last week he
launched a pre-emptive strike on the Chilcot Report into his war in
Iraq. Didn’t we realise, he told a City audience, that it was a war
against the Islamic fundamentalism now wreaking havoc worldwide?

Secular Saddam Hussein
and his missiles launchable at 45 minutes’ warning were forgotten.
Today’s war, even tomorrow’s, are what Tony Blair wants us to believe he
was trying to pre-empt eleven years ago.Although
he was happy to let Lord Hutton inquire into BBC coverage of the death
of Dr David Kelly, Blair fought tooth and nail against a public inquiry
into how he led Britain to war on false information. Although
Gordon Brown in 2009 conceded an inquiry led by Sir John Chilcot, the
political class in Westminster has fought almost five years of trench
warfare against admitting mistakes, let alone placing the blame for
them. Every opportunity to throw sand in our eyes has been taken.

We called out Tony Blair's speech repeatedly this week which led to a few e-mails from visitors pointing out that I don't do the same to Bully Boy Bush.

Bully Boy Bush is not in the White House. He does not hold a title anymore -- Tony does, idiots put him in charge of the Middle East. Bully Boy Bush is cooped up. He's not a free range chicken, he's in a tiny coop. It truly is tiny, we published the floor plan here, after all. It's a shoddy little house that didn't get completely built, couldn't pass inspections while it was being built and is adjacent to Highland Park. But, please understand, not in Highland Park because Bully Boy Bush is so damn cheap. H. Ross Perot lives in Highland Park. Bully Boy Bush lives in Dallas. (Highland Park is not a part of the city of Dallas, it is its own city.)

He does an occasion thing for veterans.

As a general rule, if it's a fundraiser or a charity event for veterans, I don't call anyone out for participating.

Other than that, Bully Boy Bush stays in his cheap chicken pen.

He's not advocating for new wars the way Tony Blair is.

Bully Boy Bush is out of the White House. I wanted that for years and years. This is a victory.

Learn to savor it.

He's unimportant in our lives today.

Tony Blair refuses to go away. There's a difference.

Now there are those who want Bully Boy Bush's head on a pike.

The week before last, one such person wrote something he wanted highlighted here.

We didn't highlight.

Not interested.

Bully Boy Bush isn't important enough to me to obsess over. He may be for other people and that's their right. But for me, I wanted him out of the White House.

I don't live under the belief that real criminals go on trial. None of the Bushes ever went on trial. Prescott was basically a Nazi collaborator. Prior to that, he's said to have been part of the conspiracy to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He never went to prison, he never went to trial, he never even got charged.

Bully Boy Bush knows that, like Henry Kissinger, he can't travel freely around the world. But it's also true, he never wanted to travel -- that was obvious in 2000 when he couldn't stop whining about campaign events that didn't allow him to be home in his Texas bedroom.

I can't turn back the clock.

But Bully Boy Bush is out of the White House.

There are those who care about Iraq that feel differently than me and that's their right. But I believe in picking your battles and, for me, there's no battle there.

Tony Blair refuses to fade away. He, like Kissinger, is convinced he can wear people down if he just keeps lying.

That's a battle that needs to be fought. He's a danger to the world as he attempts to advocate for more wars.

If someone genuinely cares about Iraq and they call out Bully Boy Bush, great. We might even note it here.

Cindy Sheehan, for example, is someone we might note doing that.

But these people who call out Bully Boy Bush today, right now, and toss out the word "Iraq"?

Most of the people on the 'left' (partisans, not real leftists) who write about BBB today and try to pretend to care about Iraq have nothing to offer about Iraq.

They don't know a damn thing. They stopped paying attention (and stopped caring because attention is showing that you care) when Barack got into office.

They show up with their attempts to elect Democrats by pretending to care about Iraq. I don't have time for it.

If nothing else, these jerks could have read Ned Parker's "Who Lost Iraq?" (POLITICO) in January, or his "Iraq: The Road to Chaos" (The New York Review of Books) this month. Or even Dexter Filkins' "What We Left Behind in Iraq" (New Yorker). But they don't want to be informed because being informed means knowing about Barack's responsibilities.

Barack's destroyed Iraq.

That's on him.

That doesn't mean BBB didn't. It means things could have moved forward, could have progressed but Barack, once he became president, made one bad decision after another.

The smart thing to do would have been to have pulled all US troops out of the country after he was sworn in. He could have stuck to his 16 months 'promise' or he could have accelerated it.

But instead of leaving, Barack wanted to put in new carpet and, hey, what's with those drapes? -- and can we get a new paint job?

He busied himself with the country and his decisions went beyond bad. His finger prints are on Iraq.

Had he immediately moved to pull troops -- and that's what we said in real time -- he'd be able to say, "The people wanted this as per the 2008 elections." And having kept his hands off it, it wasn't his fault. Iraq could be right where it is right now and he'd be innocent of blame.

But he decided to 'own' and 'improve' Iraq.

So now it's on him.

The violence today is because Nouri al-Maliki refused to power-share.

That's on Barack Obama. That's got nothing to do with the idiot Bully Boy Bush.

Iraqis went to the polls in 2010 and voted. Nouri's State of Law lost to Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya. Allawi should be prime minister. He's not.

Nouri got a second term.

That has nothing to do with George W(ar Criminal) Bush. That has everything to do with Barack.

It was Barack who had US officials in Iraq broker The Erbil Agreeement. That's what gave Nouri the second term.

There are some great big liars who keep bringing up Iran.

Oh, Iran persuaded Motada al-Sadr to support Nouri.

Yeah, they did. I believe we noted that in real time repeatedly and noted the rumors that Moqtada was promised he would be the next prime minister if he'd go along.

But that's not what gave Nouri a second term.

By October 2010, Moqtada had discarded his objection to Nouri.

But October 2010 didn't end the political stalemate and didn't see Nouri named prime minister-designate.

So stop lying and stop whoring.

If it's just that you're lazy, here's the 2010 week you're looking for:

Leila Fadel (Washington Post) notes
the latest rumors that a deal has been reached and explains the
expected process: "Legislators are expected to meet Thursday afternoon
for only the second time since the inconclusive March 7 election. Under
the deal reached Wednesday, the parliament is expected to appoint a
speaker from Iraqiya, then name the current Kurdish president, Jalal
Talabani, as president. He, in turn, will name Maliki as prime minister.
Maliki will then have to put together a cabinet that a simple majority
in Iraq's parliament will have to approve." Whomever is named
PM-designate -- whenever they're named -- will have 30 days to pull
together a cabinet. Nouri's past history of ministers walking out -- as
well as his own boasting in April 2006 that he'd put together a cabinet
before 30 days -- are forgotten, apparently. Also forgotten is what
this says: Elections are meaningless.

If
the rumors are true about the make up of the next government and that
does come to pass, the message is: "Elections are meaningless, voters
stay home." The president and the prime minister remain the same? Only
the speaker changes?

March 7th, Iraq concluded Parliamentary elections. The Guardian's editorial board noted in August,
"These elections were hailed prematurely by Mr Obama as a success, but
everything that has happened since has surely doused that optimism in a
cold shower of reality." 163 seats are needed to form the executive
government (prime minister and council of ministers). When no single
slate wins 163 seats (or possibly higher -- 163 is the number today but
the Parliament added seats this election and, in four more years, they
may add more which could increase the number of seats needed to form the
executive government), power-sharing coalitions must be formed with
other slates, parties and/or individual candidates. (Eight Parliament
seats were awarded, for example, to minority candidates who represent
various religious minorities in Iraq.) Ayad Allawi is the head of
Iraqiya which won 91 seats in the Parliament making it the biggest seat
holder. Second place went to State Of Law which Nouri al-Maliki, the
current prime minister, heads. They won 89 seats. Nouri made a big show
of lodging complaints and issuing allegations to distract and delay the
certification of the initial results while he formed a power-sharing
coalition with third place winner Iraqi National Alliance -- this
coalition still does not give them 163 seats. They are claiming they
have the right to form the government. In 2005, Iraq took four months and seven days to pick a prime minister. It's eight months and three days and still counting.

Today the KRG website announces:Baghdad,
Iraq (KRP.org) - Iraq's political leaders yesterday agreed to hold the
parliamentary session as scheduled on Thursday and to name an individual
for the post of Speaker of the the parliament (Council of
Representatives). The Speaker post will go to the Al-Iraqiya bloc, which
is headed by former prime minister Ayad Allawi. During
the meeting, which was attended by the leaders of all the winning blocs
at President Masoud Barzani's Baghdad headquarters, agreement was
reached on two other points: to create a council for strategic policy
and to address issues regarding national reconciliation. President
Barzani, who sponsored the three days' round of meetings, stated that
today's agreement was a big achievement for Iraqis. He expressed
optimism that the next government will be formed soon and that it will
be inclusive and representative of all of Iraq's communities.

Martin Chulov (Guardian) reports
one hiccup in the process today involved Ayad Allawi who US President
Barack Obama phoned asking/pleading that he accept the deal because "his
rejection of post would be a vote of no confidence". Ben Lando, Sam Dagher and Margaret Coker (Wall St. Journal) confirm
the phone call via two sources and state Allawi will take the post --
newly created -- of chair of the National Council On Higher Policy: "Mr.
Obama, in his phone call to Mr. Allawi on Thursday, promised to throw
U.S. weight behind the process and guarantee that the council would
retain meaningful and legal power, according to the two officials with
knowledge of the phone call." So all is well and good and . . .
Ooops!!!! Lando, Dagher and Coker file an update, Iraqiya wasn't happy and walked out of the session. Prashant Rao (AFP) reports
that "a dispute erupted in the Council of Representatives chamber when
the mostly Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc argued that the agreement they had
signed on to was not being honoured, prompting the bloc's MPs to storm
out. [. . .] Specifically, Iraqiya had called for three of their
lawmakers, barred for their alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath
party, to be reinstated before voting for a president." As The Economist noted earlier today, "An actual government is not yet in place; last-minute hiccups may yet occur." AP notes,
"A parliament vote on the government could still take several weeks, as
the factions work out the details of who gets what posts."

I don't what to tell you except I'm sorry you were stupid and listened to hacks like Amy Goodman and the always uninformed Ra'ed Jarrar.

I don't have any sympathy for you. The Goody Whore?

When she tried to profit by selling 2009 inauguration ball tickets, you should have grasped that the Whore was nothing but a Whore.

A journalist doesn't do that.

She's a Whore for Barack.

She's one of many.

They pretended to care about Iraq but when they didn't have a Republican in the White House to slam, they didn't give a damn what happened in Iraq.

Nouri didn't earn a second term. The US is the reason he has one. The Erbil Agreement is how. And though Nouri used it to get his second term he refused to honor the other parts of the contract.

That's why Iraq is where it is now.

You can't blame Gen Ray Odierno for this because he saw it coming and tried to warn the administration. But Barack was enthralled with the idiot Chris Hill (who had hurt feelings that the press was talking more to Odierno than to him so he got the White House to ban Odierno from giving interviews).

You can blame Barack. And if they make the idiot move that Laura Rozen reported earlier this week -- and I'm sure she's correct -- I will really be letting them have it.

The Goody Whore won't. She's all about whoring. Fortunately, Pacifica can't afford their addiction to her anymore so she's attempting to spread like a virus elsewhere in anticipation of what may be coming down the pike.

Barack's in the White House. He's President Barack Obama. Excuses and blaming others? That's worn so very thin but watch and you'll see partisan whores continue to offer that.

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.